U.S. sends FBI agents, vaccines and $5 million in aid to Haiti

Washington, United States

The United States will send agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to Haiti to assist in investigating the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the White House announced Friday.

Washington will also send Haiti vaccines against covid-19 and a $5 million aid package to help the National Police fight gang violence, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday at a press conference.

According to Psaki, the FBI and DHS agents will arrive in Port-au-Prince “as soon as possible,” and their mission will be to “assess the situation and see how they can help” the Haitian authorities.

“We are also giving $5 million to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian National Police to work with communities and resist gangs,” the spokeswoman said.

She also explained that the U.S. is preparing to send covid-19 vaccines to Haiti “as early as next week.” However, the concentrated date will depend on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture airport, which was shut down Wednesday hours after the assassination but is scheduled to reopen.

The assassination, which occurred early Wednesday morning, has been attributed by Haitian authorities to a commando of armed men who spoke English and Spanish.

According to the Haitian police, the attack was perpetrated by a commando composed of 28 people, of whom 26 are Colombian nationals, and two others are Haitian Americans.

For the moment, 17 people have been arrested for their alleged direct participation in the attack, among them 15 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans.